Mrs. Rose Greenhow. , None. [Between 1855 and 1865] [Photograph] Retrieved from the Library of Congress, https://www.loc.gov/item/2017895441/.
Oak Hill Cemetery
Recently during a trip to Washington, D.C., my son and I ventured through Oak Hill Cemetery, a non-denominational and historic site, https://oakhillcemeterydc.org/. Many notable figures were buried here, as evidenced by the map, https://oakhillcemeterydc.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/tour-map.pdf. Two of the people in this cemetery, #19 Lillie Mackall and #21 Bettie Duval (Web), will be revealed, as well as Mrs. Rose O’Neal Greenhow (buried in North Carolina);[i] all Confederate spies working in Washington, D.C. to assist the Confederacy.
In 1848, the original 15-acre plot (situated by Rock Creek), was purchased and founded by Col. William Woodrow Corcoran,[ii] a notable figure in Washington. Mr. Corcoran, a banker and founder of The Riggs National Bank (now PNC Bank), was influential, admired as a capitalist, financier, art collector, and a philanthropist. He was inspired to create a cemetery of prominence. The Cemetery Company was incorporated by an Act of Congress on March 3, 1849.[iii] Each of the contributors provided key pieces to ensure the cemetery represented the finest elements in a final resting place:
- Mr. Corcoran contributed the land.
- Captain George F. de la Roche, a master engineer, oversaw the building of the Rock Creek wall and plots locations for the cemetery, which lies in a hilly terrain.
- James Renwick, Jr., renowned architect, designed the iron gate pillars and the Chapel (built in 1849), in the design of old English Gothic chapels. Mr. Renwick also designed the Smithsonian Institute and the Renwick Gallery (which was previously named the Corcoran Gallery).[iv]
Image. Photograph. 27 December 2024. Chapel at Oak Hill Cemetery, Washington, D.C., James Renwick, Jr., architect. Photographer: Phyllis Zumwalt, personal collection.
Two female Confederate Spies buried in Oak Hill Cemetery were linked to Mrs. Rose O’Neal Greenhow
The spy ring was led by Mrs. Rose “Wild Rose” (O’Neal) Greenhow, who had moved to Washington, D.C. at a young age. At 26, she married Dr. Robert Greenhow, a librarian and chief translator for the Department of State. Rose was quite popular in the Washington elite circle. They had four daughters and traveled to San Francisco. Soon after, Robert died in an accident, leaving Rose as a wealthy widow in her 40s. Rose and her youngest daughter, Rose, returned to D.C., where she reinserted herself into high society.
Rose, a sympathizer for the South, began spying for the Confederacy in 1861 and obtained information about Union military activity through her network in Washington. She passed coded messages to the Confederates often using younger women like Lilly Mackall and Bettie Duval.
One of Rose’s most important messages was hidden in Bettie’s luxurious hair and transported to the Confederate command on 10 July 1861. Bettie, about 16, dressed as a farm girl in order to pass Union sentinels on the Chain Bridge leaving Washington. She quickly transported the message to the Fairfax Courthouse in Virginia to Confederate soldiers. Bettie was beautiful and could only be used as a courier a couple of times due to the impact she made on soldiers’ memories. She married John Converse Webb in 1866, [v] had three children and died at about age 48 of heart disease (per the funeral register).[vi] She was buried in the Oak Hill Cemetery.[vii]
Image. Photograph. 27 December 2024. Gravestone of Bettie Duval Webb at Oak Hill Cemetery, Washington, D.C., Photographer: Phyllis Zumwalt, personal collection. Note: the gravestone was in need of a cleaning. A better version of it is in the Find A Grave reference.
(Ann) Lillie Mackall was also very young, when she walked around areas frequented by Union soldiers, eavesdropping to learn of their Union activities. She would share the information with Mrs. Greenhow, to act upon it. Lillie caught ill during an imprisonment and died on the 12th of December at age 22. A marker was placed in the Oak Hill Cemetery. [viii] [ix]
Image. Photograph. 27 December 2024. Gravestone of Lillie Mackall at Oak Hill Cemetery, Washington, D.C., Photographer: Phyllis Zumwalt, personal collection.
Gen. P.G.T. Beauregard credited the information from Mrs. Rose Greenhow as the reason the Confederate Army could gather enough forces to win the First Battle of Bull Run (Manassas) on 21 July 1861. Because of her activities, she was (with her young daughter, Rose, age 8) placed in house arrest. Soon after, she, her daughter, and other female spies, were taken and housed at the Old Capitol Prison (now the U.S. Supreme Court building). [x] [xi] [xii] [xiii] She wrote a book of her imprisonment during this time of her life.[xiv] Rose traveled to Europe to share her book, and garner financial support for the Confederate Army. Once she returned, she traveled to the South in September aboard the Condor, a British ship, carrying $2,000 in gold. A Union gunboat pursued the ship and ran it onto a sandbar, near the shore by North Carolina. She tried to escape in a rowboat with two other passengers, but the boat sank, and she drowned. She was buried in North Carolina with full Confederate Military honors.[xv] [xvi]
While we toured the cemetery, we found many other notable figures, including John Joyce, “the poet of Washington”, see his gravestone below and autobiography, citation here, Col. John A. Joyce. (1883) A Checkered Life. Chicago: S. P. Rounds, Jr. https://archive.org/details/checkeredlife0000colj/page/n3/mode/2up : accessed 5 January 2025. [An autobiography of his life, with a poem about the Oak Hill Cemetery on page 315, https://archive.org/details/checkeredlife0000colj/page/314/mode/2up].
Image. Photograph. 27 December 2024. Gravestone of John Joyce at Oak Hill Cemetery, Washington, D.C., Photographer: Phyllis Zumwalt, personal collection.
Another grave marker had been placed for George Beall, Jr. His father and grandfather were instrumental in the founding of the Georgetown district in Washington. While researching, this document was found.
St. Andrew’s Society of Washington, DC. The 18th Century Scottish Origins of Washington, DC: Early Scots in Georgetown and Washington City – Implications for Our Society. https://www.saintandrewsociety.org/archives/EarlyScotsGeorgetown_110512.pdf : accessed 5 January 2025. [This booklet reviews famous Scots who founded and governed in Georgetown, Washington, D.C., including Col. Ninan Beall, who fought in the Battle of Dunbar in 1650, was captured, sold into indentured servitude, and transported first to Barbados, then to Maryland. His grandson, George Beall, Jr. fought in the Revolutionary War and had a marker placed in the Oak Hill Cemetery].
Image. Photograph. 27 December 2024. Grave marker of Colonel George Beall, Jr. at Oak Hill Cemetery, Washington, D.C., Photographer: Phyllis Zumwalt, personal collection.
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REFERENCES
[i] Find A Grave, database with images (https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/1772/rose-o’neal-greenhow : 4 January 2025), “Rose O’Neal Greenhow” (1814-1864) memorial biography created by “Debbie,” with tombstone images by “Sabrina Boyd Rath”, “John Evans”, “Keith Bryan”; citing Oakdale Cemetery, Wilmington, New Hanover County, North Carolina.
[ii] Jackson, Richard Plummer. (1878) The Chronicles of Georgetown, D.C., from 1751-1878. Washington, D.C.: R.O. Polkinhorn, printer. https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_VFUUAAAAYAAJ/page/n275/mode/2up : accessed 3 January 2025. [Chapter VIII, pp. 264-268].
[iii] U.S. Congress, Annals of Congress, 30th Cong., 2d Session (1849), 1-8, “An Act To incorporate the Oak Hill Cemetery in the District of Columbia”; Image copy, Library of Congress, Historical Bill Text, (https://www.congress.gov/bill/30th-congress/house-bill/742/text : accessed 3 January 2025).
[iv] Oak Hill Cemetery. History. https://oakhillcemeterydc.org/explore/history/ : accessed 3 January 2025.
[v] “District of Columbia, Marriages, 1811-1950”, , FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:XLDT-K5Y : accessed 5 January 2025), Entry for John C Webb and Bettie Duval, 26 Jun 1866.
[vi] Ancestry.com, database with images (https://www.ancestry.com/search/collections/61905/records/76431 : accessed 5 January 2025), “Bettie D. Webb” (1843-1891), transcription, collection “District of Columbia, U.S., Glenwood Cemetery Records, 1854-2013”.
[vii] Find A Grave, database with images (https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/7055179/bettie-webb : 5 January 2025), “Bettie Duval Webb” (1845-1891) memorial biography created by “Darlene Freeman,” with tombstone images by “Loretta Castaldi”, “Forgotten Sons”, “Gettys Bern”; citing Oakdale Cemetery, Wilmington, New Hanover County, North Carolina.
[viii] Find A Grave, database with images (https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/37242870/ann-lillie-mackall : 5 January 2025), “Lillie Mackall” (1839-1861) tombstone images by “Peter”, “Ernest”; citing Oakdale Cemetery, Wilmington, New Hanover County, North Carolina. [Erected by District Of Columbia United Daughters Of The Confederacy].
[ix] The Historical Marker Database. Lillie Mackall. https://www.hmdb.org/m.asp?m=68745 : accessed 5 January 2025.
[x] Library of Congress. (2023) In Custodia Legis Law Librarians of Congress: The Old Capitol Prison and the United States Supreme Court. https://blogs.loc.gov/law/2020/01/the-old-capitol-prison-and-the-united-states-supreme-court/ : accessed 5 January 2025.
[xi] The History Channel. (2019) Spying in the Civil War. https://www.history.com/topics/american-civil-war/civil-war-spies : accessed 5 January 2025.
[xii] Elizabeth D. Leonard. (1999) All the Daring of the Soldier: Women of the Civil War Armies. NY / London: W. W. Norton & Company. pp. 37, 41. https://archive.org/details/alldaringofsoldi00leon/page/40/mode/2up : accessed 5 January 2025.
[xiii] U.S. National Archives. Civil War: Seized Correspondence of Rose O’Neal Greenhow. https://www.archives.gov/research/military/civil-war/greenhow : accessed 5 January 2025.
[xiv] Mrs. Greenhow. (1863) My Imprisonment and the first year of abolition rule at Washington. Dodo Press. https://archive.org/details/isbn_9781409981015/mode/2up : accessed 14 January 2025.
[xv] Find A Grave, database with images (https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/1772/rose-o’neal-greenhow : 4 January 2025), “Rose O’Neal Greenhow” (1814-1864) memorial biography created by “Debbie,” with tombstone images by “Sabrina Boyd Rath”, “John Evans”, “Keith Bryan”; citing Oakdale Cemetery, Wilmington, New Hanover County, North Carolina.
[xvi] Library of Congress. (2023) Bibliomania Rare Books & Special Collections: From Captivity to Capsized: Wild Rose O’Neal Greenhow. https://blogs.loc.gov/bibliomania/2023/09/07/from-captivity-to-capsized-wild-rose-oneal-greenhow/ : accessed 5 January 2025.